Single Women Could Be Caught in the Middle of China's New Abortion Laws

As you may have heard China’s State Council published new rules limiting abortions for “non-medical purposes” on Monday. However, what you may not have heard about is the predicament it will put many single women in.

Prior to the new guidelines, China was one of the leading countries for access to abortions. Essentially, the only restrictions were on sex-selective abortions to deter couples from ending a pregnancy based on a child’s gender. But China’s low reproduction rates are a concern for the government and abortion rates are on the rise. Despite the new, more lenient child policies, the National Health Commission released data that showed 9.7 million abortions were performed in China over a four-year period from 2014 and 2018. To give you an idea of the scale, that is just slightly more than the entire population of Hungary.

The low birth rates have been attributed to many factors. For instance, data suggests that the younger generation is delaying marriage for a career and financial stability. Likewise, the rising costs of childrearing mean many couples are opting to have only one.

There is more to this story! This article was originally published on our sister site, Jingkids International.

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READ: How and Where to Get an Abortion in Beijing

Images: BabyCenter, Freestocks (via UNSPLASH)